FBI Director James Comey asked the Department of Justice to refute US President Donald Trump’s allegations that his predecessor Barack Obama had ordered wiretapping of the Trump Towers during the presidential elections, at least two media reports have said. Neither did the White House nor did the FBI and the Department of Justice respond immediately to the reports published by The New York Times and CNN -– both of which were based on unnamed sources.

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“Mr Comey has argued that the highly-charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement,” The New York Times said. According to the daily, Comey, who made the request on Saturday after Trump levelled his allegation on Twitter, has been working to get the Justice Department to knock down the claim because it falsely insinuates that the FBI broke the law.

The New York Times described the FBI request as remarkable. “The FBI made the request because such wiretapping would be illegal, since the President cannot just order eavesdropping of a US citizen’s phones, sources said,” CNN reported.